Yediot Aharonot commends Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and speculates that „There is a chance that he will achieve for the Palestinians something similar to what Ben-Gurion achieved for the Jews.” The author suggests that Fayyad „is deeply convinced that terrorism is not the way,” because „Palestinian terrorism is the Israelis’ most effective weapon,” and adds that he is busy building up the Palestinian economy and centralized institutions as best he can. The paper calls for Israel and the PA to agree on a Palestinian state even before settling the contentious refugee issue, which, the paper predicts, will lose some of its ardor once a separation between the two peoples is effected.
Ma’ariv cites a recent case in the US, in which an episode of the irreverent animated satire South Park was modified so as to avoid mentioning the prophet Muhammad in response to death threats against the show’s creators on an extremist website. The author, the Los Angeles Times television critic, protests that „Free speech was taken hostage,” and asks „If one group of crazy people claiming religious outrage is allowed to use the threat of violence as a way to control the public dialogue, what’s to stop every crazy person with an objection or a grudge or a website and too much time on their hands from doing the same?” The paper believes that satire, „by the act of offending, forces society to contemplate its definition of offensiveness and, more important, acceptance. It operates, by its very nature, at the far end of free speech. A good satirist steps over the line all the time; a great satirist moves or even erases it. Inevitably, mistakes are made, both in decisions to say and air certain things and to avoid or delete them. People are fined or fired, rules and guidelines are modified.” The author concludes that „Airwaves are just as vital and fragile as airspace.”
Yisrael Hayom comments on the internal situation in the Likud Party, specifically the rivalry between Party Chairman Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing challenger, Moshe Feiglin. The author avers that „If politics was a laboratory, I would suggest that the Likud test Feiglin by giving him the party leadership and watching his defeat in the elections,” and claims that „I do not know any Likud voter who would vote for Feiglin if he led the party.” But the paper admits that „Life is not an experimental farm. It needs rules for the political game. Even though there is no way to prevent Feiglin and his supporters from registering for the Likud, he has no place in the Likud led by Netanyahu.”
The Jerusalem Post discusses increasing anti-Semitism in Europe, and, in light of recent election results, in Hungary and Austria in particular, and comments: „Between the influx of large numbers of Muslims, who are gradually becoming the main perpetrators of anti-Semitic violence in Europe, and the rise of a rabidly xenophobic Right, as evidenced in the recent elections in Hungary and Austria, Europe, or at least a goodly part of it, is becoming a very unwelcoming place for Jews.” The editor calls on the Jews of Austria and Hungary to reassess the European reality, and to come to Israel.
Haaretz is disgusted that Israeli authorities detain refugee children from Africa in Saharonim Prison in the south along with adult prisoners, in violation of state regulations, and declares that „The refugee children deserve humane treatment like any other person, even if they entered Israel without a visa, and the government is obligated to see to their welfare.”
BreuerPress-info
